Siheyuan: I am Banggeng's uncle

Chapter 736 Seafood Feast!

Around 5 p.m., under Jia Dongming's guidance, Qin Huairu cooked all the seafood Jia Dongming had brought home and set it on the table. Bang Geng looked at the seafood on the table, some of which he recognized and some he didn't, and couldn't help but show a drooling expression on his face. He asked Jia Dongming curiously, "Uncle! How come the crabs in the sea grow so big? Is the crab meat delicious?"

Upon hearing Banggeng's words and seeing his eager expression, Jia Dongming smiled and said to Banggeng, "Banggeng! Compared to river crabs, sea crabs not only have more meat, but they also taste especially delicious. When we eat later, your uncle will teach you how to eat crabs."

Just as Jia Dongming was describing the taste of the crab to Banggeng, Qin Huairu came out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of pig's head bone and kelp soup. Banggeng smelled the aroma of the soup, sniffed hard, and said to Jia Dongming with a look of delight, "Uncle! We used to make bone broth at home, but with kelp added to the bones, the soup tastes so good. It would be wonderful if we could drink this kind of soup every day."

Holding Xiao Huaihua in her arms, Jia Zhangshi couldn't help but laugh when she heard what Banggeng said to Jia Dongming. She said to Banggeng with a kind face, "Grandma's good grandson, no matter what it is, it tastes especially delicious when you eat it once in a while, but if you eat it every day, you will get tired of it."

"Dinner's ready! Mom! Give me the locust flowers, we can eat now." With Lin Qiuyu's help, Qin Huairu set the bowls and chopsticks on the table, then quickly walked to Jia Zhangshi and said happily.

After everyone was seated, Jia Dongming raised his glass, looked at his family sitting at the table, and said with a smile, "Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival! It's a day for family reunion. Let's toast our mother with this first glass, wishing her good health, a long life, and all the best!"

Upon hearing Jia Dongming's words, everyone present raised their glasses and happily toasted Jia Zhangshi.

"Mom! This glass of wine is for you. We wish you good health and all the best!" Lin Qiuyue said to Jia Zhangshi with a smile, holding up her drink.

"Mom! This glass of wine is for you. You've worked so hard all these years!" Qin Huairu said to Jia Zhangshi with a look of deep emotion as she thought about the years they had lived.

"Grandma! I wish you a long and healthy life, and that you can eat meat every day!" Banggeng said to Jia Zhangshi, holding up his cup like a little adult.

"Grandma! I also wish you a long and healthy life, and that you can eat delicious food every day." Seeing his older brother respecting Grandma, Xiao Dang imitated him and said to Jia Zhangshi in a childish voice.

Seeing this scene, Jia Zhangshi was deeply moved, and tears streamed down her face. She wiped away her tears, then raised her wine glass and happily addressed everyone present: "My biggest wish used to be to have enough to eat and to find Dongming, whom I lost all those years ago. Now that Dongming is back, our family's life is getting better every day. My only hope is that everyone can be healthy and happy every day."

Hearing Jia Zhangshi's words, Jia Dongming smiled and said to her, "Mom! Don't worry, with me here, our lives will only get better day by day!"

After finishing his drink, Banggeng didn't immediately pour himself another. Instead, he reached for the crab on the plate and asked Jia Dongming, "Uncle! How should we eat this crab?" Hearing Banggeng's question and seeing everyone's eyes turn to him, Jia Dongming immediately understood what they were thinking. So he picked up half of the fried crab and, in full view of everyone, broke open the crab's shell. While using chopsticks to help Xiaodang scrape the red roe from the shell into Xiaodang's bowl, he explained to everyone how to eat the crab.

Banggeng watched Jia Dongming's actions intently, then picked up half a crab from the plate and followed Jia Dongming's example, beginning to taste the crab.

"Uncle! This crab meat is absolutely delicious! It's the best crab meat I've ever eaten in my life!" After taking a bite of the crab leg meat following Jia Dongming's instructions, Banggeng was overwhelmed by the elastic and delicious texture of the meat and exclaimed happily to Jia Dongming.

"Brother Dongming! The crab meat is so delicate, sweet and delicious. Every bite is a wonderful treat for the taste buds. No wonder you said before that once you've tried crab meat, you'll love it." Following Jia Dongming's instructions, Lin Qiuyue took a bite of the crab meat. The moment the crab meat entered her mouth, Lin Qiuyue's eyes lit up, and she couldn't help but say to Jia Dongming.

Seeing that the family was engrossed in eating crab meat, Jia Dongming immediately picked up a whelk, poked the meat into it with his chopsticks, and pulled out a large piece of meat from the shell. He then smiled and called out to the family, "Don't just focus on eating crab meat, try this whelk meat!"

The seafood feast delighted the Jia family. Jia Zhangshi said to Jia Dongming with a satisfied look, "Dongming! Seafood is just so much better than river food. It's a pity we don't have a sea in Beijing, otherwise we could eat these things from time to time."

"Uncle! Do people who live by the sea get to eat so much seafood every day? Their lives must be so wonderful!" Banggeng said enviously to Jia Dongming while munching on crab meat, recalling Jia Zhangshi's words and the situation Jia Dongming had just described.

Hearing the conversation between the grandmother and grandson, Jia Dongming smiled and said to Jia Zhangshi, "Mom! Although we don't have a sea in Beijing, Jingu Port isn't far from us. One of my comrades drives for the Fisheries Department, and he goes to Jingu Port almost every week to transport seafood. He's the one who brought this seafood back for me. If you want to eat it in the future, I can ask my comrade to bring it back for us again."

Upon hearing Jia Dongming's explanation, Jia Zhangshi's eyes lit up, and she quickly asked him, "Dongming! Are these seafoods expensive? Do we need coupons to buy them?"

When Jia Zhangshi asked about the price of seafood, Jia Dongming smiled and explained to her, "Mom! Seafood is all caught by fishermen from the sea. Because many people don't know how to cook it and it's not easy to preserve, seafood isn't very expensive."

When Jia Zhangshi learned that the seafood wasn't very expensive, a happy expression immediately appeared on her face. She smiled and said to Jia Dongming, "Dongming! It's good that it's not expensive. But it's not good to trouble people all the time. If we can eat it once a month, I'll be satisfied."

(End of this chapter)